I'm pretty much done with using SuperBetter to eat healthier, and as a whole, I think I've established a few more good eating habits. I'm conscious of including a fiber-rich food with each meal and of avoiding processed foods since they don't have fiber (or much of anything when it comes to nutrition).
I've finished all the quests for the Power Pack, so I've started a new Power Pack on being awesome. One of my quests is to evaluate my relationship with my comfort zone. In a nutshell, I've always been in favor of coming out of my comfort zone and of avoiding the safe and easy routes as much as possible. However, I do think I could do a better job of coming out of that zone.
Falling into a Routine
In regards to my comfort zone, I think that it's very easy to fall into a routine or a normal way of doings things. This makes things that are out of that routine a bit stressful, even if they are small things or things that I've done before. For example, phone calls, meetings, and interviews are always stressful to me, even though I've done them many times before and have done them well. They're only stressful because I don't do them all the time, but because they overwhelm me, I might put off that phone call or find a way to email that person instead of calling them. I do need to work on this. I don't know if having them happen more often will help. I used to cold call people as a part-time job. It never got any more fun or less stressful with each day of work.
I think this is also the case in normal business operations and getting a startup going. It takes innovation to make something happen, but it's very easy to get caught up in what needs to be done with each day. It can also be tough to take chances since you don't want to lose everything you've built up to this point, or to waste money on something that doesn't work or that doesn't end up as successful as you hoped. It's true that starting a business requires a huge leap out of the comfort zone, but I do think it takes subsequent leaps and jumps to keep that business going and to turn it into something big.
How Often am I In the Comfort Zone?
Probably more often than I think, as you can jump out of it to do something, but then if you don't make any more leaps after that, you essentially just move the comfort zone instead of coming out of it. I suppose the tricky thing is keeping track of the line and knowing where your comfort zone is and whether or not you actually come out of it. For example, I put off going to the bank because my bank closed the branch that was closest to my office. To go to the bank, it's now about an hour one way by public transit to spend five minutes depositing a few checks. Now, I wouldn't call this an unwillingness to come out of the comfort zone, but a dismay regarding the hassle it is for me to go to the bank. I know i could just switch banks, but I just bought a whole new box of business checks. If I switched banks, then I'd have to spend more money on business checks. My point is that, with the comfort zone (and the way it can move if you choose to leave it from time to time), it can be difficult to figure out if you're back in it or not.